Walvis Bay, Namibia

We stopped here in 2018, so click the link to see what we did then and why we decided to do pretty much the same thing this time around.

The port also has trains that were busy during our time there. It seems like a good efficient idea to transfer containers and other cargo directly to trains from ships.

We walked directly to the bay and we were happy to see that the tide was out, so there'd be more bird activity.

Our first small group of the Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) was photo bombed by a Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus).

Hey, what's going on?

A wide variety of jellyfish were on the beach.

Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres)

An armada of slightly pink Great White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus) patrolled the shoreline. These are huge birds that stand five feet tall and have a wing span of more than eleven feet. Only the Great Albatross has a wider wing span. This is not the same species as the American White Pelican (P. erythrorhynchos), which has a wingspan of up to ten feet.

They passed by a Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea).

A flock of Lesser Flamingos with their dark wings passed over some Greater Flamingos and more birds. The ship looms in the background.

We had seen these birders several times as we had walked along the shoreline. This time we struck up a conversation. He was a resident and his friend was visiting from Canada.

A great gathering of Lesser Flamingos.

At the end of the walk along the bay, we crossed the road into the Namibian Desert. We'd seen flamingos fly out this way, so we figured there was a salt pond somewhere close by.

But first, it was time for some lunch.

Yes, we did find the salt pond.

It was mostly Lesser Flamingos at this pond and we were making them nervous. Notice how many of them were ready to take flight.

We walked back across to the bay where the tide was rolling in.

 
A bit of a mating dance...

 
We watched for some time.

 
Some jellyfish in the incoming tide...

We had to wait for several minutes while a train was using the tracks. One shuttle bus driver was impatient and blew his horn. The engineer in the train blasted back with his much louder horn, which may have meant something like, "Don't bother me. I have work to do." We had had another wonderful birding day in Walvis Bay.

After a couple of sea days heading northward along the west African coast, we arrived in Luanda.

Luanda, Angola

We stopped here in 2018, so see that page to see what we did then. Note: This time we did not pick up a police escort, but we still had an interesting day.

Greeters in Luanda: the two Marimba players were the same as five years before, but the gourds used to amplify and set the pitch of the marimba bars were different.

A school playground.

Palm transport.

An egret atop a car trying to choke down a salted fish.

Some street art on the way up the hill toward embassy row, which was where we were headed.

 
Contrasts of very poor and very wealthy.

A fancy cemetery gate.

We stepped into the cemetery, but we were told not to take photos, so we did not spend much time there and it seemed like the graves were mostly from the Portuguese colonial period.

 
In some places the sidewalks were filled with people. This group was outside of a hospital.

Just around the corner from the hospital, there was a Jaguar Dealership with this specially painted eland, an African antelope, in its front window. While Dean was taking this photo, I asked the salesman how business was for such a high-end product in this neighborhood. He did not hesitate in saying that business was good. Just before we entered the dealership, a woman in an upscale car had followed us to ask us if we were lost. "No, we have a map and a GPS on our tablet." We guessed that not many tourists walk this way.

The workers were friendly.

We had entered an event park and had been asked to walk through a purifier booth before we entered. We doubted its efficacy, but we did as asked. The park was closed, but there were various venues set up for pretty much any G-rated fantasy people might have.

We continued on to a park that showed on our map. These dumpsters were provided for neighborhood yard waste.

We were on top of a hill which was terraced all the way back down to sea level.

A peacock mosaic at the entry to a neighborhood where we finally found the park.

We talked to this bunch of kids, whose class was moving from one building to another. They said that the starched white cover-ups were their uniforms.

Fun. They asked a lot of questions in perfect English, but their teacher finally herded them off to their destination.

 
We liked this guy's style and palm-frond hat. We continued around the park and then to a surprising antique train.

How the heck did it come to be at the top of the hill?

The view from the train. We did not walk out on that rotting platform.

 
Near the train, we saw a pair of metallic green dung beetles rolling a ball of dung with their hind legs.

A panorama of the city from the road back down from Embassy Row shows the extremes.

Back down at sea level...

Using buckets for paddling a homemade craft gets the job done.

A school group down by the waterfront area were identified by their green shirts.

 
So many people carried big loads on their heads. Some native art in the port area.

And finally back home, all without picking up a police escort. Also, there was a great deal of police presence, both public and private, most everywhere went went.

There was a sea day until we reached our next destination, Takoradi, Ghana.